1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for supporting generation of a source code based on object orientation with a capability of improving an efficiency of program development by reusing an existing source code.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, program codes are generated based on object oriented techniques to make program developments efficient. According to the object oriented techniques, data and processing are stored as one object, and a program code is described by sending a message for invoking the processing to the object.
On the other hand, there is an attempt to automatically generate a program code corresponding to a specification based on the specification of the program code desired by a user. However, since a processing logic for generating the program code is incomplete, only a template of the program code desired by the user can be generated (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-219287). That is, to generate a complete program code, the user has to overwrite the program code using a simple script language.
To solve this problem, there is proposed a technique in which a program code and a configuration of the program code are generated in association with each other, and when a user edits the configuration, the editing on the configuration is reflected in the corresponding program code, thereby enabling generation of a new program code (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3299259). In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-3216 discloses a technique that automatically manages consistency of a specification relating to the program code.
In the conventional techniques, however, a program code equivalent to a new program code to be generated needs to be described beforehand, which imposes a heavy burden on users.
Furthermore, when a new program code that does not correspond to the configuration of the pre-generated program code is generated, the new program code cannot be generated by editing the configuration, and users need to newly generate the program code, thereby deteriorating the efficiency of program code generation.